NASA Technology To Target Offshore Oil And GasThe nation's offshore oil and gas industry may see improvements in its piping systems thanks to work being accomplished through a cooperative effort between NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala., and the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Louisiana State University (LSU). NASA and LSU are working to assist Specialty Plastics Inc., of Baton Rouge, La., in developing innovative joining and fitting technologies for advanced composite piping systems for U.S. oil and gas industry.A team of NASA, university and industry experts will work on developing high-performance composite materials; combining polymers with glass or carbon fibers, for example, to dramatically enhance physical properties, such as strength and durability, of hardware used in this business. To date, material cost, along with design and manufacturing complexity, have restricted such materials to areas such as national defense or high-performance sporting goods. The new team’s goal will be to move high- performance composites into mainstream manufacturing. MSFC, LSU and Specialty Plastics experts will begin by seeking a method of joining pipe segments and manufacturing low-cost, high-strength pipe fittings. In the offshore oil and gas industry, the cost of manufacturing and erecting offshore production platforms could be reduced significantly if even a portion of the heavy metal pipelines could be replaced with lighter-weight pipeline systems made of composite materials, according to Richard Lea, president of Specialty Plastics. By reducing the topside weight of deep-water offshore rigs (known as tension leg platforms in the industry) which are required to access deep water petroleum reserves, the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimates $250,000 could be saved per meter of water depth -- an average of about $150 million per unit. Making the use of piping made from advanced composite materials economically feasible could benefit other industries. For example, pipes made of composite materials could be used for fire water piping, sea water cooling, drainage systems, and sewerage without the worry of corrosion. About $20 billion is spent annually by the petrochemical industry, the pulp and paper industry, and marine industries in combating corrosion damage to piping made with present-day materials. Specialty Plastics has been awarded a $1.8 million advanced technology program grant to help finance research in this high-risk area of technology by the NIST. The company is the first in Louisiana to receive a NIST research and development grant. The advanced technology program provides cost-shared funding to industries to undertake high- risk research and development projects which could spark important, broad-based economic benefits for the United States, Lea said, adding that these are projects which otherwise might not be pursued -- or to which sufficient resources might not be dedicated -- because of financial or technical risks in pursuing such leading-edge technologies. The awards are made following a rigorous competitive review which evaluates scientific and technical merit. The awards permit the focusing of resources on key technical barriers and business challenges in specific technologies which promise major economic benefits for the nation. Bob
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